When it comes to holiday foods, my family is all about
tradition. Year after year, the same
foods appear on our tables and in our homes throughout the Thanksgiving and
Christmas holiday season. When I first began
cooking for a living...going to school, cooking in an exciting restaurant
kitchen...this bothered me a lot. I
found it to be constraining...and a bit boring.
I wanted to prepare exotic and different foods from other
traditions. Unfortunately, my desires
didn't mesh very well with those of my family.
But of course, the holidays really are about family: remembering
the things that connect us to each other and to those who are no longer
physically present. Food...and the
traditions that surround it...are a beautiful and symbolic part of this. Every year we serve a sweet Wassail on
Christmas Eve at a simple family gathering in my home. Everyone expects it. To be honest, I don't like it very much. But my father loved it...and he loved
Christmas. So I am happy to make it
every year because it reminds me of him and the joy he found in the holiday
season. And now, a new generation has
apparently acquired a taste for it: I
found out a few years ago that my niece loves it. So... the tradition will continue.
I have of course introduced a few new food traditions
of my own into the mix. The holiday wreath coffeecake I make now for Christmas breakfast was something I started
making a few years ago...and it has gone over well. It is, I think, here to stay. Other traditional family foods have received
a bit of a makeover: artisanal bread (instead of Wonder bread) in my
Grandmother's sage dressing....homemade sour cherry compote (instead of canned
pie filling) in a favorite family coffeecake.... But some recipes really didn't need to be
changed at all. They were already delicious...and
part of the things I have loved about our family's holiday traditions. The recipe I'm sharing today is one of
these.
I don't know at what point a particular dish had to
first appear on our table in order for it to become a settled family tradition...but
it probably had to be sometime before all of the kids had graduated from
college. (I think a lot of traditions
are rooted in the fact that we all want to be kids again at Christmas...) The bread I'm posting today appeared in Better
Homes & Gardens magazine in December of 1982, so it's on the fringe in
terms of time frame (two of the four of us were in college at that time). But I'm glad it made the cut—it's a tradition
that I happen to like.
I have not changed this loaf from the original (other
than to stream line the method a bit). Simple,
festive and delicious as is—it is similar to the soft and slightly sweet homemade
dinner rolls that everyone loves to have on their tables at the holidays. It is the perfect accompaniment to the bowl
of Cream of Wild Rice Soup that we always have for our Christmas Eve dinner (a
tradition dating from our Minnesota days in the mid-70's).
In recent years I guess you could say that I have gone
from tolerating these family food traditions to enjoying them. I am blessed that my work provides a creative
outlet for me as I prepare a wide variety of interesting and different things
for my clients. In the hurry and rush of
the season, it is frankly a relief to not have to think about what I'll prepare
for dinner on Christmas Eve. And then,
sitting down to that simple and familiar bowl of soup with bread (before the
rest of the family arrives for the Wassail and other traditional holiday treats),
I get to have a quiet moment to truly enjoy the current season...and at the
same time savor the memories of the many Christmases that have passed.
Merry Christmas.
Christmas Wreath Bread
3/4 c. (180 g.) milk
3 T. (41 g) unsalted butter, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 1/4 t. instant or active dry yeast
3 T. (38 g) sugar
3/4 t. salt
1 large egg
2 1/2 to 3 c. (285 to 340 g) all-purpose flour
Milk for brushing
1/3 c. pecan halves
Scald the milk.
Place the butter in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Pour the hot milk over the butter. By the time the butter melts the temperature
of the milk should be about 105° to 115° F.—if not, let it sit until it is. Add
the yeast. Stir until dissolved. Whisk in the sugar, salt and egg. Add a cup of the flour and whisk until
smooth. Stir in another 1 1/2 cups of flour, adding as much of the remaining
half cup necessary to obtain a soft, shaggy dough.
Turn out, scraping the bowl
well, onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding only as much of the
remaining flour as you need to manage the dough—it will remain a bit sticky,
but will eventually become smooth and elastic.
This will take about 7 to 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a buttered bowl and turn to
coat. Cover with plastic wrap and set in
a warm spot. Let rise until doubled in
bulk—about an hour to an hour and a half.
Knock back the risen dough, turn out onto your work surface and divide
into three equal balls.
Cover with a
towel and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Roll each ball into a 24-inch rope....using very small amount of flour
only if necessary to keep the ropes from sticking unmanageably.
Grease the outside of a 6 oz. custard cup and invert
on the center of a parchment lined baking sheet. Braid the ropes loosely
and wrap around the
custard cup, pinching the ends together to seal and form a continuous
braid.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap
and let rise until doubled—the loaf will look puffy and swollen
and if you
touch it gently with your fingertip, the indentation will remain—about an
hour. Carefully brush the loaf with milk
and tuck the pecan halves decoratively into the crevices of the braid. Bake in a 375° oven until golden brown—if you
tap on the loaf it will sound hollow—20 minutes or so. Transfer to a wire rack. When the loaf is cool enough to handle, lift
it off of the custard cup and serve.
(Recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, December 1982)
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